The Sotomayor Controversy
Regarding the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States…
To say there is a great deal of controversy over President Obama’s choice is an understatement. Granted we have witnessed dirtier fights over previous Supreme Court nominations, this particular one has been quite the news feeder.
While there is plenty of support for Ms. Sotomayor, there is also an enraged multitude who are mad as all hell over it. There are those on the right (naturally) concerned that she is racist, or perhaps not conservative enough (despite her ruling record). There is even talk that she may be a plant to do Pres. Obama’s manacle dirty work. On the other side, there are those on the left screaming that she is not liberal enough (according to the same a fore mentioned ruling record) She hasn’t defended pro-choice, or gay rights, etc… and these are the same folks that are growing more and more annoyed with Obama’s first six months in office as it is.
I admit watching the partisan charade makes me laugh. I laugh of course not out of some enjoyment for what I am witnessing, but because it is just a way to keep myself from crying. What I really want to do is bang my head on a wall until the madness starts to make sense. Do any of us *really* still think anything that happens in government has anything at all to do with party?
Maybe it’s not a mwuhahaha (rubbing of the hands) manacle plan like we see on TV. (you do know that the show 24 is not real right?) But rest assured every move is strategically planned and executed according to a hundred year old plan. The party divisions are on purpose and look at what it does.
Oh it’s worse than that. We are even arguing amongst ourselves now. The parties themselves are falling apart because the people within them can no longer ban together for a common cause. We run around like rats in a cage nipping each other’s heels, and we get all caught up in distractions.
All this hoopla over Judge Sotomayor is just another distraction. It diverts our attention from the real core of the matters that we should be focused on. What’s worse, things like this get us bickering not only between the parties, but even amongst our own.
For example, I recently witnessed a lengthy argument (we’ll call it a heated discussion) within a group where we are mostly like-minded individuals all there for the same reason and with the same common goal - that being Liberty. Instead of discussing current issues and how to proceed with action - all we did was a whole lot of barking at each other, over Sotomayor. Is she a racist? What did she mean in her speech? How is it different than Justice Scalia stating during his confirmation hearings that his Italian-American heritage indeed affected how he weighed on Immigration cases? Is her statement sexist? How about her record? How does her judicial record reconcile with this speech? Some cling to the spin and repeat facts they know nothing about. This is how I know it is not about issues, but scoring political points. We gotta wake up people. We gotta wake up!! Stop letting talk-show hosts and media personalities feed you outrage.
It made me think of the ferocious dobermans barking at a fence until the thief throws a raw steak…and then they turn on each other and ignore the thief.
Ummm… hello?? Is this what we really need to be focusing on right now? While I believe we should be discussing it to some degree, it should be intelligently and with our eyes wide open. There are facts and then there is political spin designed to benefit absolutely no one but a political party or some political career. Trust me, our government has no interest in us having a clear understanding on the issues so we can make sure they do their job. They don’t want us to think. They want us to chase our own tail and let’s face it, we have proven them right time and time again.
It boils down to this. Being aware is good, but we must be wise in that awareness and apply our efforts productively. We pay waaaaay too much attention to the distractions and not enough to the problems. In the meantime, we do an awful lot of barking and not enough biting.
By: Veda & Desiree
